Atari VCS Youtube Haters

[Djmicklovin]

So we all know the Atari VCS hasn’t exactly gotten the warmest welcome from the youtube community. RGT 85, ReviewtechUSA, DreamcastGuy, YongYea, and many others have had some choice words for the new VCS and Atari in general. It has even been shunned among some Atari fans. It has been dubbed as a scam, an OUYA 2, raspberry pi, etc. A lot of it appears to be clickbait in my opinion. That’s how these people make money.  Do you agree with what they’ve said and has the console changed your mind since they started shipping to backers? What are your thoughts on these people? 

[tripled79]

I don't listen to RGT 85, Reviewtech USA, etc because of their close-mindedness towards the VCS.

[+SabertoothRetro]

1 hour ago, tripled79 said:

I don't listen to RGT 85, Reviewtech USA, etc because of their close-mindedness towards the VCS.

Same. There is a lot to criticize about the implementation of the VCS but it exists and isn't a scam.  The folks named above largely went quiet on VCS once it was delivered to backers. The people who actually have one are - in general - enjoying it.  That's what matters. 

[Mockduck]

I care about some uninformed rando dude's opinion on YouTube about as much as if someone I didn't know came up to me in a grocery store and told me the frozen pizza I liked was bad. Ok person, thanks for the input...

 

Dunno why anyone elevates uninformed opinions on YouTube simply because someone talked in front of a camera. Means literally nothing to anyone except for the poor soul whose life is so unhappy that they need everyone around them to be unhappy as well.

 

 

[Atari_JaguarVCS]

I’ve listened to those Youtubers rant about the vcs in the past, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised with my vcs since it turned up especially the build quality of it it’s top class! I’ve had mine since January and it sits happily along side my Ps5! Very different machines that people need to stop comparing as the vcs is clearly designed for non demanding modern day retro although it’s ability to run some fairly recent AAA games in my steam library even at lower settings was a bonus and surprised me it’s rather capable depending on the configuration. I actually use the vcs more than my other consoles and it makes a pretty good every day second windows 10 pc once upgraded, it’s not really untill recently however I’ve started using the Atari OS and downloading a few games from there store front but it definitely needs more games but it’s certainly no OUYA that’s for sure. 

[justclaws]

Drama gets the clicks on YouTube, and positive videos get slammed by haters for the same reason.
Mostly these people don't even know anything about the subject they talk about, not just with VCS.
Sometimes, the video-maker has such a smirk on their face, it's obvious they're just trolling anyway.

YouTube, Reddit, Facebook, there are a lot of places where people love to hate things, and there are
some "journalists" who have their own hidden agendas, they repeatedly propagate lies unfortunately,
or hide behind aliases. Fake reviews happen with shops, restaurants, hotels, too. One example, here:
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-49725337

It's not just about the VCS though - there are people who hate Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, and all the
smaller console suppliers. For some, it's just a bigger "school yard", where bullies want to make fun
of what they don't have, themselves. For others, it's to be part of group, or just for a bit of attention.
Sometimes, it seems to be Xenophobia, or other prejudice. Pushing back, is pointless, as we know.

There are people making positive, honest, and helpful videos. I support those, and ignore the rest.
I do not mind what people like, if it's not harmful to others, and I can't change how the haters feel,
and getting annoyed or upset over things I cannot change, is only harming myself, so I don't do it.

I do wish though that YouTube had a real "ignore" option, because that's all I want to do, mostly...

[Lord Mushroom]

15 hours ago, Djmicklovin said:

Do you agree with what they’ve said and has the console changed your mind since they started shipping to backers? What are your thoughts on these people? 

I don´t know anything about these specific You Tubers, but these kinds of videos tend to be overly positive or overly negative to attract clicks.

 

I agreed with critics of the VCS that  it would be a low value for money product, and I personally find it to be so. However, I figured the vast majority of those who bought it (either as backers or upon release) would be disappointed, but that is not the case at all. It is a niche product with satisified customers.

 

I never bought the idea that it was a scam, although I found the idea less and less unlikely as delays piled up. It has also come to light that Atari has invested a lot of money into it, and will most likely lose money on it, so it is not a minimum effort money grab either.

[Matt_B]

14 hours ago, tripled79 said:

I don't listen to RGT 85, Reviewtech USA, etc because of their close-mindedness towards the VCS.

Yes, they're both heavily drama-centric channels that you probably shouldn't listen to regarding anything. I certainly don't. ?

 

That said, there were also videos being made by more level headed YouTubers like Spawn Wave - who's actually quite warmed to it since it came out - saying much the same things in a less hyperbolic fashion; they were mainly doing this because they were true and staring us all in the face. It's surely no exaggeration to say that Atari horribly mismanaged this project for at least a couple of years, making virtually no progress towards getting a working prototype in that time and putting out a lot of misleading communications while they were at it. They went to crowdfunding with just lumps of plastic and mocked up footage, and didn't even start work on an actual prototype until they'd got the money. They've been sued twice by people who worked for them but weren't paid. The lengthy delays that were predicted by many were absolutely borne out, and Atari definitely brought such criticism upon themselves by their own actions.

 

Even now, just putting out the hardware hasn't made all substantial criticisms go away. There's still also no exclusive content, just 2 of the 18 games Atari published on Steam have been ported to it, and the asking price is higher than actual next generation consoles.

 

In terms of YouTubers who've covered the VCS since it came out, I'd think that ETA Prime, Gamers Nexus, The Gamer and Kevin Kenson - people who review a lot of hardware and generally even handed - have all given credit where it's due for the things that the VCS gets right and make for the most positive coverage it's received from mainstream channels. However, even then, all of them have gone on to say that it's somewhat overpriced and underpowered compared to other consoles and PCs. Again, that's just how it is.

[zzip]

17 hours ago, Djmicklovin said:

So we all know the Atari VCS hasn’t exactly gotten the warmest welcome from the youtube community. RGT 85, ReviewtechUSA, DreamcastGuy, YongYea, and many others have had some choice words for the new VCS and Atari in general. It has even been shunned among some Atari fans. It has been dubbed as a scam, an OUYA 2, raspberry pi, etc. A lot of it appears to be clickbait in my opinion. That’s how these people make money.  Do you agree with what they’ve said and has the console changed your mind since they started shipping to backers? What are your thoughts on these people? 

Not just Youtube,  this very board had floods of such posts!

 

The VCS was announced around the same time as a flurry of other retro microconsoles.  In the beginning some people called it a scam because the person behind Coleco Chameleon was working on it,  but even after he was taken off the project, the negativity didn't end.  I heard rumors that one of the people behind one of the other retro-consoles was running a FUD campaign against VCS,  and maybe that explains why some people won't let it go even after it proved itself to be a real product.

 

Myself, I've always said I'll judge for myself it on whether it ships or actually ends up being a scam.   I wasn't just going to take people's word on the internet.   Out of all the retro-consoles announced at the time, I always said VCS would be the most useful because it was the most open.

[zzip]

2 hours ago, Matt_B said:

However, even then, all of them have gone on to say that it's somewhat overpriced and underpowered compared to other consoles and PCs. Again, that's just how it is.

What this criticism misses is that Atari doesn't have the volume of Sony or Microsoft, so there's no way they could put out a console that matches the power of those consoles for the same price, they won't get the same volume discounts from AMD and other suppliers.   I'd say most people interested probably already own a more powerful PC and/or console, and they are more interested in VCS as a concept than they are about price/performance ratio.   Also this thing is likely to become a collector's item because of relatively low volumes and the name,  and will hold its value better than a generic PC.

[Lord Mushroom]

11 minutes ago, zzip said:

Also this thing is likely to become a collector's item because of relatively low volumes and the name,  and will hold its value better than a generic PC.

True, and not just generic PCs either. I think it will hold up better than PS5s, Xbox Xs and Switches too in the long run.

[The Historian]

3 hours ago, Lord Mushroom said:

I don´t know anything about these specific You Tubers, but these kinds of videos tend to be overly positive or overly negative to attract clicks.

Absolutely, half the comments will be about what brilliant commentary and the other half will be about how monumentally wrong they were. Which leads to open combat in the comments. 

 

4 hours ago, justclaws said:

YouTube, Reddit, Facebook, there are a lot of places where people love to hate things,

 It's starting to balance out on Reddit, but that's what I expected once it released. I expect once the retail release get's out there things will start to swing to the more positive side. You cannot blame those on the negative side, Atari made a lot of mistakes and mishandled just about every opportunity to support and engage with the community around the VCS. 
 

26 minutes ago, zzip said:

Also this thing is likely to become a collector's item

That will be the long term result. At some point the "store" will shut down, although with the recovery image out there in the wild we may see some 3rd party effort to keep it alive long after the Atari Gaming Division at Atari SA has moved into licensing the aesthetic design for t-shirts and other items.

[justclaws]

I saw this earlier on Facebook, an Xbox tweet on the "positives" in this thread. ?

[+swlovinist]

As someone who is in media, it is always easier to be on the sideline and give a perspective of how someone else is covering something.    We live in a world in which everyone has an opinion, and rarely can we all agree upon something.   There are so many different pockets of gaming enthusiasts out there now.   Multiple generations have now experienced gaming first hand, often fighting over which console or computer is the best, how x console delivered, this x console sucked etc.   When I received my Atari VCS as a backer, I tried to be as objective as I could.  First and foremost I do believe that it did deliver to its backers.   Now the real work begins.   I separate backer campaign from a console launch, which is entirely different.   I want to cover the VCS on my channel as an update to the backer campaign, but I want to first let it be officially launched and want to check out and buy some of the best released games.  I support the VCS endeavors to move forward with the VCS and look forward to any announcements that they intend to offer this Spring/Summer for future plans.  

[leech]

On 6/6/2021 at 3:20 PM, Mockduck said:

I care about some uninformed rando dude's opinion on YouTube about as much as if someone I didn't know came up to me in a grocery store and told me the frozen pizza I liked was bad. Ok person, thanks for the input...

 

Dunno why anyone elevates uninformed opinions on YouTube simply because someone talked in front of a camera. Means literally nothing to anyone except for the poor soul whose life is so unhappy that they need everyone around them to be unhappy as well.

 

 

YouTube has Flat Earthers.  Enough said

[digdugnate]

On 6/7/2021 at 8:58 AM, The Historian said:

Absolutely, half the comments will be about what brilliant commentary and the other half will be about how monumentally wrong they were. Which leads to open combat in the comments. 

 

 It's starting to balance out on Reddit, but that's what I expected once it released. I expect once the retail release get's out there things will start to swing to the more positive side. You cannot blame those on the negative side, Atari made a lot of mistakes and mishandled just about every opportunity to support and engage with the community around the VCS. 
 

That will be the long term result. At some point the "store" will shut down, although with the recovery image out there in the wild we may see some 3rd party effort to keep it alive long after the Atari Gaming Division at Atari SA has moved into licensing the aesthetic design for t-shirts and other items.

I think you'll see a small group of enthusiasts out there for a while after Atari SA loses interest in the platform; that's probably the one thing I find interesting about the VCS, though it doesn't make it stand out from any other platform.

[Draxxon]

One person makes a video, they all make a video.

YouTube gamer reviewers are clowns.

[Cebus Capucinis]

I think it will be interesting to see what enthusiasts do with it over time. As much as I'm not a fan of it overall, I think that one of its strengths is that it's flexible enough of a platform for some really talented coders and programmers to put it to some cool uses. Whether that will happen or whether those coders and programmers are interested in doing so remains to be seen (I think it's made less likely by Atari bungling development so much), but I think there's that potential there.

[godslabrat]

On 6/6/2021 at 2:05 PM, Djmicklovin said:

So we all know the Atari VCS hasn’t exactly gotten the warmest welcome from the youtube community. RGT 85, ReviewtechUSA, DreamcastGuy, YongYea, and many others have had some choice words for the new VCS and Atari in general. It has even been shunned among some Atari fans. It has been dubbed as a scam, an OUYA 2, raspberry pi, etc. A lot of it appears to be clickbait in my opinion. That’s how these people make money.  Do you agree with what they’ve said and has the console changed your mind since they started shipping to backers? What are your thoughts on these people? 

It's clearly a hit.

[zzip]

On 6/13/2021 at 12:31 PM, Cebus Capucinis said:

I think it will be interesting to see what enthusiasts do with it over time. As much as I'm not a fan of it overall, I think that one of its strengths is that it's flexible enough of a platform for some really talented coders and programmers to put it to some cool uses. Whether that will happen or whether those coders and programmers are interested in doing so remains to be seen (I think it's made less likely by Atari bungling development so much), but I think there's that potential there.

Atari fans have long been used to insufficient support from the parent company going back to at least 1984..   They are a resourceful bunch,  just look at the steady stream of homebrew and hardware projects for every Atari console and computer.   The VCS is the most powerful and open computer/console that Atari has ever released, so I have no doubt its fans will put it to interesting uses.

[Leeroy ST]

This thread is the exact opposite of what the common opinion was on here for quite some time. 

 

Personally I think of all the alternative consoles, the VCS actually provides the best value, if you know what you're doing, but I still think the asking price is a bit steep. The one thing I wished they did was add a disc drive than it could be somewhat a modern console and can compete on the low end. Yeah it's not a XSX or PS5 but you could run medium PC games with a disc drive, maybe play DVDs too or something. 

 

It's also much better than that Amico Intellivision thing. Seems more like a used car salesman selling you a Pinto painted up as new and shiny. 

[justclaws]

3 hours ago, Leeroy ST said:

Personally I think of all the alternative consoles, the VCS actually provides the best value, if you know what you're doing, but I still think the asking price is a bit steep. The one thing I wished they did was add a disc drive than it could be somewhat a modern console and can compete on the low end. Yeah it's not a XSX or PS5 but you could run medium PC games with a disc drive, maybe play DVDs too or something. 

The price of the VCS was originally targeted lower, but the pandemic inflated costs or all production, huh?

I have a USB DVD drive, and with that, with Windows, I can also use such games. 
I think a range of Atari branded peripherals will be welcome, but I suspect, there will never be a DVD.
I've got a USB floppy drive, too, so don't feel blocked. The DVD drive was only about $20 and is USB3. ?

[Atari_JaguarVCS]

I’ve been using this old thing for my external DVD drive on my VCS! The old Xbox 360 HD DVD player finally found a use for it back in January when my VCS arrived lol. I’ve got lots of stuff hooked up to my VCS I love the freedom that it’s not tied down like the other systems can definitely make it your own little set up.   

[Matt_B]

3 hours ago, justclaws said:

The price of the VCS was originally targeted lower, but the pandemic inflated costs or all production, huh?

I don't think you can blame the pandemic for the pricing, seeing as it was $389 for a pre-order as of July 2019. Let's face it; they just racked up a massive overspend on getting it developed, and lack the confidence to sell it in sufficient volume to make that back.

[zzip]

15 hours ago, justclaws said:

The price of the VCS was originally targeted lower, but the pandemic inflated costs or all production, huh?
?

People forget that of course a limited run device is going to be more expensive than a mass-market device like PS5/Xbox One,  but those consoles get huge volume discounts and are likely sold at a loss on top of that.   If you want to build a PC that matches PS5 spec for spec, it will still cost well over $1000,  maybe even $2000 if you want to pay the currently over-inflated price for the GPU equivalent.

 

The global chip shortage has impacted everything,  other mini-PCs have gone up in price too, so the $299 for the VCS is looking less and less crazy